Spanning a tremendously successful career in design and architecture and 16 major international projects, including London’s The Shard and the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Renzo Piano exhibition
The Art of Making Buildings comes to the Royal Academy of Arts between 15 September 2018 and 20 January 2019.
Besides being the first exhibition in London to focus on Renzo Piano’s extraordinary work in the last 30 years, it is also a rare opportunity for architecture enthusiasts, and regular visitors alike, to experience Renzo Piano’s talent up-close, through an impressive collection of architecture drawings, models, photography, and large-scale maquettes.
At the heart of the galleries, a sculptural installation designed especially for the exhibition will take visitors on a journey of discovery through an imagined island made up of 100 of the architect’s projects. Either side of
The Island, the east and west wings of the Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries at Burlington Gardens feature a presentation of 16 of Piano’s iconic buildings presented on architectural tables. They unravel before the eyes of visitors going into intricate details in terms of form, material, engineering, and bringing it all together through Renzo Piano’s precise, yet elegant style.
Both the east and the west wings of the Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries will host eight iconic projects each, and the illumination will be provided by iGuzzini, Lighting Partner for the exhibition. Maintaining the simple, yet elegant style of the
iGuzzini intelligent lighting installation illuminating the Main Galleries at Burlington House – the galleries are exclusively illuminated with intelligent Palco luminaires remotely-controlled using Bluetooth technology for ease-of-use, minimum maintenance, flexibility in terms of lighting scenes and effects, etc. – white-finish Ø122 and Ø142
Palco Wall Washers installed along the top of the left and right walls of the two wings of the galleries provide uniform comfortable lighting along the perimeter of the exhibition spaces. To drive focus on to the exhibition tables running across the centre of the vaulted exhibition areas, about 70 bespoke track-mounted, white-finish Ø156
Le Perroquet pendants envelope the architectural tables and suspended models in sharp, yet comfortable, accent lighting.
Le Perroquet was itself designed by Renzo Piano, having been described by the architect as featuring “a joyful design that animates space”. The spotlight was originally created to illuminate the Pompidou Centre in Paris, having since become a bit of a design icon for Renzo Piano’s projects. Specifically, the product was chosen to illuminate areas of renowned Renzo Piano Building Workshop projects such as the recently completed
Palais de Justice in Paris, the
Harvard Art Museum in Boston, the
Art Institute of Chicago, the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the
Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, the
Centro Botín Art and Culture Gallery in Santander, the
High Museum of Arts in Atlanta, the
City Gate in La Valetta, the
Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, The
MUSE. Science Museum in Trento, the
New York Times Building, and the
Cultural Centre of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in Athens.
Besides the opportunity to continue the strong ties iGuzzini has with the Renzo Piano Building Workshop practice, being able to act as a Lighting Partner for
The Art of Making Buildings – an Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with Renzo Piano Building Workshop and the Fondazione Renzo Piano – strengthens iGuzzini’s relationship with the Royal Academy as well as its prominent position in the museum and heritage lighting sector.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is the opportunity to attend a talk by Renzo Piano himself,
Renzo Piano in conversation. The talk will be held at the Benjamin West Lecture Theatre, Burlington Gardens, Royal Academy of Arts, on Monday, 15 October 2018, between 6.30 – 8.00 p.m. The first round of tickets have already sold out, which confirms the popularity and uniqueness of the opportunity to see the great architecture master address the London audience as he reflects on the past 50 years of his astonishing contribution to the architectural world and beyond.
For more information on the exhibition and to book tickets, please access
the exhibition page on the Royal Academy of Arts’ website.